


Kevin's First Christmas

by Autumnalhogwarts



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Christmas, Family, First Christmas, Friendship, Gen, a ton of OC's because i had to give kayleigh friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-27 20:44:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17169080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Autumnalhogwarts/pseuds/Autumnalhogwarts
Summary: Kevin's first Christmas at 8 months old with his mom and her friends and then Kevin's first Christmas with his father at 21 years old.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this was meant to be a quick 1000 word thing but it ended up getting out of hand and will have two chapters  
> rated teen for language because the F word is used a couple times, but otherwise its G

     Inviting everyone to her three bedroom home in Ireland was probably not the best idea, but Kayleigh was high on life celebrating her son’s first Christmas. Liam and Saoirse lived down the block, but the others--David, Macy, and Ella-- would have to fight for the one open bedroom. The den had been set up for Christmas on the first day of December, covering the entire room in tacky decorations, which Kay was living for. The rest of the house was only lightly decorated, mostly due to the fact that Kevin’s crawling had recently gone from terrible to terrific, and he had started trying to pull himself up on furniture.

     Macy and Ella flew in from Virginia on December 17, by the 23rd when David arrived Kevin had yet to warm up to either of them. Both part of Kayleigh’s American coaching team, they had spent the first three months of Kevin’s life seeing him every day but had not seen him in the five months since they left for Ireland. Kevin clearly did not remember either of them, he clung to his mother or Saoirse whenever they were in the room with him. However when David walked in the door late on the 23rd Kevin lit up brighter than the tree. He shoved away from his mother and reached for David in one motion, causing Kayleigh to stumble so she wouldn’t drop him. At the movement, David turned his head and smiled brightly.   

     “Hey, Kev! How’s my baby boy?” David bellowed, swooping Kevin out of his mother's arms and dancing around the entryway. “It’s only been a month, how have you grown this much?”

     “He’s 10 Kilos now David! THAT'S OVER 22 POUNDS! And he’s almost 28 inches tall! He’s going to be so big when he’s grown,” Kayleigh called as she walked into the kitchen, “I bet you fifty American that he’s taller than me by 11”.

     David continued dancing with Kevin down the hallway and into the kitchen. Kayleigh was putting the mince pies in the oven while Macy and Ella were sitting in the dining room making more. He settled Kevin on his hip and asked how he could help.   

     “Love you're already helping loads by holding my dear son who has been driving me mad sticking his hands in these pies all afternoon,” Kayleigh said as she wove around the boys into the dining room. “He’s should have gone to bed at half Seven, but he took a three-hour nap today. I think he was just waiting for you”.

     Kevin pulled on David’s shirt to get his attention and began babbling like he was telling the real story of what happened that day, clearly painting his mother as the antagonist for not letting him touch every pie like he wanted to.

     “Okay buddy, let's go upstairs and get you calmed down for bed,” David said as he turned to leave the room. As he walked the women jokingly cheered behind him.

     A quick bath and a baby massage quickly calmed Kevin down enough to start reading books. David took one look at the horrible board books scattered around the room and reached for his copy of Swiss Family Robinson instead. As he read Kevin curled up in his arms and listened intently while falling asleep. After a little while, Kayleigh came up to feed him and put him to bed only to find both of them asleep in the rocking chair. Her chuckle woke David up, letting a soft smile take over his face. She took the sleeping infant from him and he shuffled down the stairs to sleep on the couch.

 

* * *

 

     The next morning David woke with a start at exactly 6:30 am, he had a moment to wonder what woke him when he heard Kevin yell again. Kayleigh walked past the couch not seeing him, muttering to herself about how demanding her son was and how he absolutely did not get that from her. A smile spread across David's face as he thought that Kevin Absolutely Did get that from her.      

     Soon enough Macy and Ella came thumping down the stairs, forcing him to get up. The walked through the hall into the kitchen without entering the living room, but he knew that would be their next stop. Luckily they brought him coffee when they invaded his makeshift bedroom.  

     Handing him the cup Macy asked, “David, I've been here for a week and Kevin still won't let me hold him, yet he reaches for you the second you walk through the door, what's up with that?”

     “Well Mace, he clearly knows talent when he sees it, and you my dear are about half as talented as my left arm” he replied, taking a sip of his coffee to give him something to do.

     “Hmm yes, of course, that’s why I let that Aussie striker past me four times last game... Oh, Wait! That was you!” Macy laughed.

     “Mhm exactly he only got past me four times in an entire game, meanwhile you scored what One Point in 55 minutes of play time? They should take away your coaching card for that”.

     “It was a charity game!”

     “It was a charity game she says! As if that means she doesn’t have to score”.

     “Simmer down children, we have all week to argue,” Ella piped in, looking like she was enjoying the argument.

     “Kevin Day is going to be the best Striker you've ever seen! Mark my words.” Macy declared, motioning her hands like a gavel.

     “You mean Backliner. Best Backliner you’ve ever seen,” David disputed raising his eyebrows in a challenge.

     “He likes attention, he’ll be a striker, all the best players are,” Macy added, pursing her lips and tilting her head cockily, “There’s no glory in being a Backliner”.

     “Backliners are the most underrated players in the game Mace, without me you’d never have a chance at winning, especially with the way you play. Don’t shortchange the defensive line. Kevin will know that defense is the backbone of the team and he will want to be a part of that”.  

     Ella chose then to pipe up with, “I think he’ll be a dealer, best of both worlds”.

     “No.” shouted David and Macy at the same time. Macy made a face at David for agreeing with her and David shot her a glare in return.

     Kayleigh chose then to walk into the room with a bright-eyed Kevin on her hip. “I think we can all agree that no matter what position he Chooses to play, Kevin will be the best player Exy has ever seen”.

     “I’ll toast to that!” Ella called out raising her coffee cup up.

     They all clanked their glasses and shouted: “To Kevin!”

     Kevin loved the attention and screamed at the sound of his name.

     They spent the morning baking more pasties and decorating them as festively as they could for four adults with no artistic inclinations. After Kevin’s nap, the afternoon was spent walking around the neighborhood delivering the baked goods and Kayleigh’s Christmas cards to everyone she knew. They spent at least five minutes at every house catching up on the latest news and family events. At one point Ella asked if this was an Irish thing, but Kayleigh said it was just something she liked to do to let all of her friends know that she cares for them even if she’s out of town for half the year and can’t see them as often as she would like.

     Their last stop was at Liam and Saoirse’s house. Kayleigh explained that Saoirse was a good friend of hers from school and she was now Kevin’s nanny since she also had a little one she stayed home with, and Liam was her lovely husband who they had both has a crush on as teens.

     As Kayleigh raised her hand to knock on the door, it was thrust open in front of her and the group was greeted by two smiling parents and an excited toddler looking picture perfect. The pair wrapped Kayleigh in a hug while their daughter ran out the door and said hello hello hello to every person she saw, including Kevin in his stroller.

     Kayleigh walked into the house and poured herself a glass of wine like she owned the place. Saoirse took Kevin from his stroller, leaving the vehicle on the front step, and followed Kay into the house. Kevin began squirming in her arms and reaching for David as soon as he saw him.

     “That’s odd,” said Saoirse bouncing Kevin up and down, “he’s never usually fussy”.

     Macy walked up behind her and patted her back, “Don’t feel too bad, David’s his favorite person in the world”.

     She turned to see what Kevin was reaching for and realized that it was, in fact, David and as soon as she handed him over, he calmed down.

     At dinner they tried putting Kevin in the highchair he ate at every day, but he fussed again. Next Kayleigh tried to settle him on her lap, but he shoved away from her as well. Rolling his eyes David picked him up and settled him on his own lap, with no trouble at all. Kevin stayed there the rest of the night as they ate and gossiped. When they switched room, Liam left to put his daughter to sleep and Kayleigh used the commotion as a chance to feed Kevin. However, as soon as he was done he went back to David’s lap to fall asleep. Every time he moved Kevin stirred and occasionally woke up, only to snuggle closer.

     David ended up walking home holding Kevin awkwardly in his arms trying not to make him. He slowly walked up the stairs, avoiding the stairs that squeaked, walked down the hall and into the nursery, only to stop short of the crib when he realized he had to idea how to put Kevin down without waking him up. He started to turn toward the door when Kayleigh walked in and gently took the sleeping child from him, and slowly placed him in his bed. The pair tiptoed out of the room silently and said their goodnights.

 

* * *

 

     The next morning Kevin woke up at exactly 6:30 again, but as opposed to the morning before, he was laughing instead of yelling. David was just waking up and registering someone else was in the room with him when Kayleigh placed Kevin on his chest and said: “he’s your problem until I’ve had some coffee”.

     Kevin was still giggling and began chewing on David’s finger. David huffed in false annoyance and started a speech about how Kevin should choose to be a Backliner because it’s the best position. He added dramatic facial expressions and kept his tone playful to keep Kevin laughing the entire time.

     “You should probably save that for a few years,” Macy said walking into the room rubbing her eyes, “Besides everyone knows little Kevin’s too fast to be a Backliner, speed like his is for strikers”.

     Kevin looked up at her when she spoke and glared at her, giving the sternest look his eight-month-old face could manage. She laughed so hard she stumbled into the wall, and continued laughing for a minute until she caught her breath.

     “God this kid hates me!” Macy tried to pat him on the head but he slapped her hand away and crawled up David’s chest to sit by his head. “What did I ever do to you huh Kev?”

     Kevin continued glaring until David sat up and moved him. “At this point I think he’ll be a Backliner just to spite you Mace”.    

     “Maybe he’ll be like his Mama and play every position”.

     Covering Kevin's ears, David growled: “Fuck, I hadn’t thought of that”.

     When the roomed lapsed into silence they could hear Kayleigh in the next room singing to herself, “I love Coffee, Coffee is my friend, I love Coffee more than anything else”. Macy placed her hand over her mouth to quiet her laughter, which Kevin found hilarious. His giggling brought Kayleigh into the room.

     “What so funny little man?” she asked him, scooping him up and walking him to the tree.

     She sat down with him on her lap and pulled out a big box wrapped in Santa paper, tearing the corner the before placing it in front of Kevin. He pulled at the paper, laughing and flailing his arms at the sound it made when it ripped. They continued like that with Kayleigh tearing the paper properly and Kevin playing with it until the box was uncovered completely. It took over five minutes, but David and Macy watched the whole time, enjoying the blissful family moment.

     “Okay, buddy what is it?” Kayleigh said standing Kevin up and leaning him on the box. “Do you like it Kev? It’s a walker! So you can learn how to walk like a big kid! Isn’t that cool?”

     He responded by hitting the box repeatedly and laughing at the noise it made.

     “And uncle David’s going to put it together for you! Isn’t he nice baby?”

     “Uhhh, Kay I did not sign up for that,” David responded looking confused.

     “Too bad your the only man in the house. You don’t want us fragile women putting it together, do you? What if we break a nail?” she responded, picking up Kevin and pulling Macy into the kitchen, “You can build it while we make breakfast”.

     “Kayleigh Day you are the least fragile person I’ve ever met, get back here and build this damn thing yourself”.

     “I’m sorry dear I can't hear you over the sound of your whining”.

     David huffed and rolled off the couch, crawling over to where the box was sitting under the tree surrounded by a pile of wrapping paper. He started by balling up the paper and throwing it behind him. Then he inspected the box, the walker looked simple enough. As he tore the tape off the end he heard Macy ask why he had to build it. Kayleigh replied that she’d overheard a woman at the pediatrician say it was a pain in the ass to put together. With a challenge now in front of him, David turned to the brightly colored pieces in front of him and began reading the instructions.

     He lost track of time fighting with the toy and eventually realized Ella and Macy were sitting on the couch watching him. His back was sore and his head was starting to hurt.

     “What time is it?”

     “10:30,” Ella answered then took a sip from her mug, “You missed breakfast darling, we tried to tell you it was ready, but you were in la la land”.

     “Three fucking hours and it’s not even half put together? How the hell does this thing work? It’s for babies, it cannot be this difficult!”

     “Want some help?”

     “Fuck off, I can do it”

     The girls both laughed and left the room. He heard one of them say something about David going crazy, but he didn’t care to listen to the rest. Turning back to the instructions with a new determination, he went over every step and every piece again. He vaguely registered Kayleigh taking Kevin upstairs at some point, probably for his nap, as he worked shoving pieces together and taking them apart again.

     Finally, he yelled that it was complete. A look at the clock told him it was almost 2 pm, and it had taken him almost 6 hours to but together a toy that Kevin would grow out of within three months.

     “Oh good you’re done, I was just about to wake Kevin up,” Kayleigh said patting him on the back. “You did great buddy”.

     “Hey Kay”.

     “Yeah?”

     “Fuck you”.

     She skipped out of the room laughing as David stretched out. He decided to lay on the floor for a few minutes before wandering into the kitchen for something to eat. He’d missed lunch as well, but someone had made him a plate and put it in the oven to keep it warm. As he ate he heard Macy telling the story of their last charity game and a man’s voice reply. He realized he’d missed other people coming over in his fixation on building the walker. Sighing he picked up his plate and walked into the dining room.

     “Hello, David! We would have said hi when we got here, but you looked dedicated” Liam welcomes, clapping him on the back. “Baby toys are the worst thing to try to build. Took me a week to finish Fiona’s walker”.

     “Six goddamn hours,” David said rubbing his eyes and stretching again, “I swear if he doesn’t use that thing for at least a year I’m going to flip out”.

     Saoirse laughed, “Welcome to life with children, you work your ass off for something they grow out of in a week”.

     “Come look!” Kayleigh called from the living room.

     David and Saoirse got up, leaving the others to finish their story. They walked into the living room to see Kevin smiling brighter than the sun in his new walker.

     “He’s already figured out how to move it too! Watch! .... Go on Kevin show your fan what you can do!”

     Kevin was playing with one of the rattles connected to the walked, but looked up then his mother spoke to him. When he was Saoirse and David he started moving his legs in a walking motions. After a couple tried he got the footing right and the walker moved forward. The two adults cheered and clapped for him, encouraging him to try again. The next step moved him even farther than the last one and he screamed in happiness. He continued the motions until he hit their legs and looked up at them with pride.

     Saoirse picked him up out of the walker and David smothered them both in a hug. Not wanting to be left out Kayleigh ran over and joined the group squeezing them all tightly.   

     


	2. Chapter 2

Wymack had asked Kevin in early November if he wanted to spend Christmas at his apartment. At the time Kevin thought it was a great idea. The first real Christmas as a family, with his dad knowing he’s his dad. When he was little Wymack came to every family Christmas, birthday, Easter, thanksgiving, and even fourth of July party (which he still didn’t understand why his mom celebrated). But that was different because Wymack was just his mom’s friend, Uncle David.

Finals and games had been a big enough distraction to keep the anxiety away, but when he entered the apartment at the start of the break he started to worry. There was a small tree in the corner with lights and no decorations, but everything else looked the same. 

“I got a new couch... it turns into a bed. I figured it would be more comfortable for you,” Wymack said walking up behind him.

“Thanks, you didn’t have to do that for me, I would have been okay,” Kevin replied hesitantly, dropping his bag at the foot of the couch. 

“You deserve a bed Kevin,” Wymack eyed him, looking like he was searching for the right words, “you deserve more than just being okay”.

“Okay,” Kevin run his hand through his hair and pulled at the ends, turning he looked at the tree, “That’s an interesting look, very minimal”.

Laughing Wymack rubbed his hand over his face, “The decorations are in the box under the tree you goon, we’re supposed to do it together”.

“Oh... yeah that makes more sense”. 

To get out of the awkward conversation Kevin went over to the box and started looking through it. Most of the bobbles were simple solid colors, some had words like world best coach or Christmas 1997. One stood out to him, it was a baby’s first Christmas with a picture of him as a toddler. He held it up so his dad could see and raised an eyebrow. He wanted to ask what it was but he took to long to find the right words and Wymack answered first.

“That’s from your first Christmas in America, you were almost three, but your mom thought it was hilarious to put that photo in a first Christmas ornament”.

“How did you get it though?” Kevin asked, trying to keep the emotion that came with talking about his mom out of his voice.

“You were supposed to fly back to Ireland on the 23rd, but there was a storm and all flights were canceled until the 25th, so you stayed at my apartment. Everything your mom had set up for the holidays was in Ireland so we went shopping all day on Christmas eve to make it a real Holiday to Remember. I have the pictures around here somewhere,” Wymack said turning to dig through the photo albums under the coffee table.

When he found the one he was looking for he opened it and shoved it towards Kevin. Kevin looked through the entire book, inspecting every photo like it was made of gold. His favorite ones were the ones with his mother smiling. Two photos had her flipping off the camera with her hand covering her face. There were multiple shots of Wymack looking annoyed pulling toys out of their packages. At least half of the book was full of just Kevin. Kevin sleeping, eating, playing, taking a bath, jumping on the couch, smiling, crying, even one of him clearly screaming. He mostly skipped over the photos of himself, they were too embarrassing. At the end of the album, there were photos of a new years eve party, he didn't know any of the people but one person kept pulling at the back of his mind. 

“Who's this?” he asked pointing to the photo of the woman he swore he didn’t know but recognized.

“That’s Macy, she was your mom’s assistant coach for a long time. She got her own team when you were five? Maybe six.”

“I don’t remember her or anything about her but I feel like I know her...” he let the end of his sentence trail off.

“You saw her almost everyday when you were little, that’s not surprising. She’s up with the Knights now if you want to talk to her”.

“Wait, that’s Macy Albrooke?” he said tapping on the photo to make his point, “Like head coach for the Knights Macy Albrooke? You Know Her?”

Wymack got out his phone, tapping out a text,  before putting it back in his pocket, “Why don’t we decorate the tree and we can talk about Mace later”.

“I can’t believe you called Macy Albrooke, the first and only female coach of a professional Exy team ‘Mace’”

Wymack rolled his eyes and grabbed an ornament, patting Kevin’s shoulder as he passed. Once his dad started moving Kevin got to work as well. After half an hour they had a beautifully decorated tree, with only some light bickering about how close ornaments are allowed to be, as well as how close to the bottom they should go. As they finished butting the decorations box away the phone rang.

“Hey Mace you’re on speaker,” Wymack said settling into the couch for a long conversation. 

“Hello David, finally taking me up on my offer to buy out that goalie of yours? You know I’ll take him if he’s giving you too much trouble,” Macy said with a hint of laughter in her voice. 

Looking directly at Kevin he rolled his eyes, “you can have Minyard when I’m done with him and not a minute sooner”.

“You know, it’s possible to have a professional career while still in college, it’s been done before dear. How is our boy by the way? Still playing favorites?” she asked taunting him.

“You say that like you have been watching him like a hawk,” Wymack responded, falling into their normal back and forth bickering easily. 

“Of course I have, but the face he gives the public is the same one he gave me when he was trying to get away with something at four years old. I don’t trust that innocent smile for a second”

“I see age has made you wiser Mace”.

“I see you’re still a dick, Dave”.

Wymack let out a genuine laugh at the comment, taking a moment to get it under control. “He’s here if you want to talk to him. He found an old picture of you earlier--”

She cut him off before he could finish his sentence, “Kevin dear, would you like to hear some Fucking Wild stories about your parents?”

“Sure?” Kevin responded, raising his eyebrow and gesturing with his hand at his father.

“Did you know, when you were a baby, your father swore up and down until the cows came home that you would be a Backliner like him?”

“No,” Kevin said tilting his head and frowning, “I’ve never heard that before”.

“Mhm, and I set him straight, I said you would be a Striker like me. ! because you always loved to be the center of attention, but 2 because you always had the temperament to be a striker. Every time you got knocked down you’d get back up even more determined and ready to try again and that’s what a good striker needs”.

After that comment, Wymack handed him the phone and headed off into the kitchen to start dinner. Kevin was still talking  an hour later when the food was finished, so Wymack made up two plates and put them in the oven to keep them warm until Kevin was ready. It took another hour for the call to end, but Kevin seemed happier so Wymack kept his complaints about waiting to himself. 

The lead up to Christmas was spent with Kevin sleeping in and Wymack working. Everyday at 11 Wymack woke Kevin up and they ate lunch together, then they’d head over to the court and practice for an hour, or until Wymack hip started hurting. He told Kevin no less than 15 times to stay away from motorcycles because that’s how he got hurt. The evenings were spent watching old Christmas movies and chatting about history. 

On Christmas Eve Wymack pulled out from old tapes he had of Kayleigh playing Exy and coaching. She played every position well, but Striker was her favorite. Watching her play was a weird experience for both of them. Two minutes into the first tape Kevin noticed she moved the same way he did. Every pass was exactly how he would have done it, every goal identical to his. 

“You move like her,” Wymack said tearing him from his thoughts, “I haven’t watched a tape of her playing in years, I never noticed before”.

“I noticed that too... I can predict her next move almost every time... it’s like I’m watching a video of myself”.

Kevin didn’t notice the tears in his eyes until Wymack pulled him into a hug. He sobbed for while with his father patting his head and holding him so tightly his chest ached. When the tears slowed he hugged back. Eventually, he turned, breaking free of the hold and let his head drop to Wymack’s shoulder, eyes on the screen.

“I want to keep watching. I’ve never seen her play before”.

They spend the entire day watching old tapes from the early days of Exy. Most had his mother playing, but in some, she was featured yelling from the sidelines and pounding on the Plexiglas instead. At some point, they both fell asleep, with Kevin's head still on Wymack’s shoulder.   

  The next morning Kevin woke up at 6 with a slight headache and a sore back. When he rolled over he saw his dad paying on the other side of the couch bed snoring lightly. 

“Hey dad,” he said quietly, trying to wake him up as calmly as possible.

“Yeah Buddy?” 

“Merry Christmas”.

Wymack checked his watch and groaned. “I thought only little kids woke up at 6 am on Christmas”.

Kevin laughed and looked at the tree. “OH NO! Santa didn’t come! Whatever shall we do?”

“Maybe Santa fell asleep watching Exy with you and didn’t have a chance to take the presents out of their secret hiding spot,” Wymack said rolling off of the couch and standing up.

He stretched and popped his back, groaning at the same time. Next, he rubbed his face a couple times to wake up. Wymack went into his room, returning a few minutes later with a stocking Kevin recognized from the photo album and perfectly wrapped two presents. He set them down in front of Kevin and kissed his forehead. Kevin wasn’t completely sure, but he thought he heard Wymack mutter Merry Christmas Son into his hair. 

Kevin took his time opening everything in the stocking. It was mostly lip balm, cheap candy, and small Lego sets, the same as the stockings he got when he was a child.

“Hey did you do my stockings when I was a kid?” he asked staring at the items questioningly. 

“Yeah, your mom wanted to be telling the truth when she denied being Santa if you ever asked”.

“That’s really sweet... I didn’t know that, thank you”.

Wymack just huffed and pushed his presents toward him. Kevin took the smallest one first and picked at the tape to open it. He refused to tear the wrapping paper, so the process was slow. When he was finished he had five DVD cases in his lap with no covers on them.

“I had every film I have of your mother playing or coaching put on DVD’s for you,” he said looking nervous, “We only watch the first disk worth yesterday”.

Kevin wiped a tear from his eye and thanked him. Without acknowledging the crying, Wymack pushed the second significantly larger present at him. Kevin was just as careful with this wrapping paper. Half way through unwrapping Kevin realized what it was and paused. He ripped the rest of the paper off as quickly as possible and stared. It was a 5197 piece Lego kit of the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars. Kevin's eyes went wide as he looked over the entire box.

“This is incredible... it must have cost a fortune though...” Kevin gasped out eventually when he regained his voice.

“You’re worth it Kevin. Besides I have twelve Christmases to make up for,” Wymack said smiling at Kevin, “I’m glad you like it”.

“Will you build it with me?” Kevin asked, then ducked his head blushing. 

Wymack patted him on the shoulder and ruffled his hair, “of course I will Kev”.

The set took them the entire rest of the break to build. Kevin would have sat down and done it all in one sitting without taking a break it allowed, but Wymack could only sit for so long before getting sore, and they both wanted to draw out the experience. They worked incredibly well together as a team and developed a system of sorting pieces into Tupperware to make them easier to keep track of. Wymack asked Kevin a lot of questions about history and art at first, drawing Kevin out, but once he realized his father would listen no matter how much he talked he talked he went on four hours.   


End file.
